


When Secondary Gender Expression Complicates Life in Weird Ways

by Foodmoon



Series: Unexpected Expression [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: A/B/O, Do not share for profit, F/M, Gen, Sasuke's a broody little shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:24:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22670170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foodmoon/pseuds/Foodmoon
Summary: Everyone expects Sasuke to express as an alpha. But then he doesn't, which he blames on Naruto. And then his life gets weird, which he blames on allergies. Life will never be the same again.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto
Series: Unexpected Expression [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1572769
Comments: 34
Kudos: 163





	1. The Life Trials of a Young Omega

**Author's Note:**

> **This is probably nonsensical and way too convenient, but I have all these convoluted thoughts running around, so:**  
>  Headcanon that most people are born with the capability to develop either secondary gender (functionally intersex), and usually just develop the one that suits them most or can be triggered to one or the other expression by someone compatible. Of course, physical issues with one set or the other of the _(underdeveloped until expression)_ organs would generally prevent expression for that secondary gender or prevent expression altogether.  
> So, simple medical testing before expression would _rarely_ be able to tell what secondary gender is likely to develop. And then only in the uncommon cases of only having one gender’s set or severe and obvious issues with one or both sets of reproductive organs.  
> Naturally, because of more complicated anatomy issues ( _thus more things that can go wrong with the possible development_ ) female alphas and male omegas are far less common expressions of this. Of the girls who forced their own expression, odds are high that most or all of them would have expressed as omegas if they expressed at all.  
> Since first rut or first heats are basically the kick-starter for puberty (sexual only), they are both nonsexual and considered inviolable. ( _I.e. Everyone basically just suffers through them with maybe an analgesic at most, so their development isn’t whacked out. Suppressants and birth control don’t affect the process after the first time, but interfering with the initial one has been known to cause some unfortunate issues later on_.)  
> Cont. in end notes.

If there is one thing in life that Sasuke does _not_ want, it is to express as an alpha, like his once-adored-now-reviled older brother had. The small horde of screaming omega fangirls who _obviously_ are only waiting for him to express as an alpha before they climb all over him just helps his distaste for the idea along. In truth, of course, he knew that someone as deeply traumatized as he has been is unlikely to express at all, regardless of population pressure. His therapist had explained that one with unnecessary care. He’s pretty sure _that man_ didn’t think that one through when he taunted him that he should become a _better alpha_ and hunt him down for revenge…if he dares. Not that he _doesn’t_ intend to hunt him down once he’s strong enough, but seriously…Sasuke does _not_ want to be an alpha. _At all._ Frankly, he’s _perfectly_ content with the notion of remaining a beta for life.

He wants to clear his clan’s _reputation_ , of course, and avenge them _(at least his parents and a few other ones he’d been close to)_ , but repopulate the clan entirely on his own? Yeah, the notion kind of grosses him out even though he _does_ like girls.

Given his own father and his lack of better examples, Sasuke knows he’d probably be a terrible father anyways and he never wants to be the guy responsible for driving his child over the brink of insanity to the point he _(or she)_ feels he has to slaughter the entire clan to get away from him. And it’s not because his father didn’t _try_ to be a good father, at least to Itachi. Despite what his mother used to say, he’s not unobservant. His father had _ignored_ him while trying to figure out what he did wrong with Itachi. Looking back, now he can be grateful for that.

Because, yes, Itachi is undeniably an insane kin-killer, but Sasuke has no other explanation of why his gentle brother could be driven to that point other than to look at their father’s shitty parenting. And spousing. _(Which is probably not a word, but whatever.)_ It’s not like he’d missed how sad their mother was all the time. So, no, he really doesn’t want to be an alpha or a father, because _what if he turns out like his dad?_ Let his clan rest in peace once he’s avenged them.

On the subject of expression, though, he is completely _unsurprised_ when his best friend expresses as an alpha, even though everyone else is apparently shocked by it. Maybe it’s because he is the one who drags the confused and suffering boy to the hospital when he starts expressing, but…

What did they _expect_ when half the class has expressed as omegas?

So what if the civilian boys are older? Naruto has more the personality for it than they do. Even half-ostracized as he is, Naruto still _interacts_ with the group and _no one_ dominates him. _(Except for Sasuke, but that’s different and to be expected, since he’s an Uchiha and the best in the entire group. The girls don’t count, since Naruto isn’t ill-mannered enough to fight with girls outside of spars.)_ It’s _obvious_ that Naruto expressing is just the natural course of population pressure via secondary gender imbalance within the class.

~

Sakura expressing doesn’t really affect Sasuke. Sure, her hair is striking and, well, _pretty_. But she’s just another screaming fangirl, albeit one who is now quietly sulky and keeps her distance from him so the other girls don’t sneer at her too much. To be honest, Sasuke really doesn’t notice. Other than to be grateful that there is one less person screaming in his vicinity.

Or rather, this is true until Sasuke himself expresses unexpectedly. It’s Naruto’s fault. He’s positive about this, because Naruto is really the only person he allows himself to be close to and the idiot is an alpha. _Apparently_ the preponderance of omega girls in the class isn’t _enough_ for the natural population balance, because Sasuke, too, expresses as an omega. He spends his first miserable heat cursing Naruto for his predicament. It’s probably good that the idiot is entirely unaware of this, however. It would be aggravating if his best friend refused to speak to him.

Weirdly, most of the adults _(that is, all of them except his therapist)_ seem to think that the only thing unusual about him expressing is that he expressed as an omega instead of an alpha. Male omegas aren’t particularly common, and apparently downright rare among the Uchiha clan historically. Whatever. He still blames Naruto.

Returning to Academy after expression leave is…

Loud.

The girls swarm him, loudly. Then one of them has the sheer and utter _gall_ to sniff him and exclaims, “Sasuke’s an omega!”

There is a momentary slice of dead silence and then the babble renews at louder levels and he covers his ears in self-defense. He startles back as Ino slams her hands down on the desk in front of him.

“Are you an omega or an alpha, Sasuke?”

“Omega.” He says shortly.

She stares at him a moment, ignoring the disappointed wails and denials of the other girls, then starts shooing them off. It helps. _A little_. But it’s not until Sakura stalks over and sits down beside him with a smug expression that they really back off and trail back to their seats, still complaining. Sasuke’s never been so grateful to a screaming fangirl in his _life_. Though he’ll admit that at least Ino _tried_. And _no_ , he’s not exaggerating _at all_. It’s not like he missed the fact that _even Naruto_ had been unnerved enough to stay out of the mess, and the idiot’s usually too dense to even _notice_ when he’s in the middle of it.

At least the other alphas in class don’t try to move in on him. Whether that’s because of Sakura’s presence or because it’s embarrassing to them that he’s better than all of them, well…he really doesn’t care to be perfectly honest. As long as they don’t crowd him. Or worse, flirt with him. Because he likes girls, thank you very much.

Then he remembers that Naruto likes Sakura and might have a different reason for avoiding the situation and feels momentarily guilty. Only briefly, of course. Then he realizes he’s one-upped his rival yet again and feels a little warm glow of smugness that Sakura likes him better. Not that it was a _competition_ , of course, but who wouldn’t be smug that a pretty girl likes him best? _(Unless faced with a swarm of screaming fangirls, but he’s not counting that and definitely not thinking about it now that it’s presumably done and over with for good. Please, kami.)_ At least she’s not stupid or incompetent like half the _others_.

It is kind of annoying, though, that the faint whiff of alpha he gets off of her has him relaxing and feeling safe despite the havoc mere minutes ago. That is…also something he doesn’t want to think about. He doesn’t need _anyone_ to make him feel safe; he can take care of his own safety.

~

Sasuke hunches over the barf basin miserably. His body feels like one giant bruise; he’s pretty sure even his _eyebrows_ and _toenails_ are throbbing. He retches and spits, thankfully nothing actually coming up _this time_.

The door is pushed open and the doctor enters. “Congratulations, you’re allergic.”

He twists to look at the man and immediately regrets it, throwing up for real this time, although nothing comes up other than bile. _No, wait. That’s a tomato seed. Probably. He doesn’t remember eating anything else that could conceivably have seeds, at least. Wait._ His head snaps up. “Allergic to what?”

The man looks vaguely surprised. “Oh. I didn’t say? Suppressants. All of them, I’m afraid. Your symptoms match as a severe allergy to one of the two key ingredients in all types of suppressants, even the kind that is combined with birth control.”

Sasuke blinks a few times, processing that. “But, I’m a ninja…”

“Yes, it is a rather unfortunate allergy to have in your profession. Though of course, you certainly can take birth control. There are several, medically unrelated formulations, so at least one should work well for you. You’ll simply have to make arrangements to accommodate your heats. It’s certainly not ideal, but until medical research finds an alternative there’s simply no way to give you suppressants without side effects such as you are currently experiencing or even worse if you persist. I suggest you find a compatible alpha around your age to help ease the effects of your heats.”

He sputters. _Did his doctor just recommend sex to an Academy student!?_

The man coughs and looks slightly sheepish. “That came out wrong. I didn’t mean- I meant as a friend. Having an alpha’s scent close can ease bad heats and make normal ones easier as well. You can just borrow clothes if you don’t have someone you can trust to sit with you through them. Adult parental figures can help in a similar manner at your age, but the effect tends to lessen steadily with age. Finding someone who can help you long-term is usually easier sooner than later. Particularly in your profession.”

“Oh.”

“Now, about birth control options… We’ll have to wait until your body’s worked this reaction out of your system entirely before prescribing something, but we can discuss which of the options you’d like to start with."

_Birth control. That’s… Just kill him now. He can’t-_

“Can you just pick one for me?” He hates how small his voice sounds.

The doctor pauses, expression pensive for a moment before he nods. “Yes, we can do that. Would you like the information on the different types to look at later?”

 _No_.

“I- Yes. Please.”

~

Sakura is flattered when Sasuke asks to speak to her alone. Or rather, _she would be_ but he looks nervous, unhappy and a bit ill. _That_ is _not_ the look she wants to see on her precious Sasuke. So, honestly, she’s kind of expecting him to tell her that he doesn’t want her claiming the unofficial spot as _his_ alpha that she’s taken up now that the omega girls are so clearly out of the running. Not that she really blames him? She’s smart enough to know that the taunts thrown her way over the years aren’t wrong. Her hair’s a weird color, she’s named after a tree, and her forehead is way too big for the traditional sense of beauty.

And, okay, it’s not like she has terrible self-esteem. Ino’s seen to that. But someone like Sasuke? Easily deserves better than someone like her from a minor ninja family, whose mom is civilian and dad never made it above genin. Her parents are the _best_ , but she knows how little that kind of thing weighs to those from old clans. The way Sasuke is avoiding her eyes only makes her more certain that she’s about to get dumped without ever dating him. Which _sucks_ , because she loves him _so much_. She’d do just about _anything_ to make him happy with her.

“I will allow you to be my alpha, but I have one condition.”

 _What?_ She stares at him a moment in shock. Elated, but stunned.

“Sakura?”

“Anything for you, Sasuke. What is the condition?”

He bites his lip and looks away before determinedly. “I need you to help me through my heats, but _no sex_. I don’t want any of that. Not unless I ask you for it _before_ the heat.”

She knows enough to know why an alpha’s presence would help, but… “Of course not. I mean, I wouldn’t do that before marriage even if you _asked_. And of course I’ll help you. But Sasuke, aren’t you on suppressants?”

“Allergic.”

“What?”

“I’m allergic to them.”

“Oh. Then a different type of-?”

“To _all of them_. I’m allergic to the main ingredient in _all_ suppressants. I’m on birth control instead.”

Sakura’s mouth opens and closes a couple times as she tries to formulate a reply. “I- I see. Um, Sasuke, are you aware that birth control can make it harder for you to have kids when you want them?”

He grimaces. “I don’t _want_ kids, Sakura. My father- I don’t want to be responsible for a child turning out like my big brother. I’d be a terrible parent.”

That stops her. Because _everyone_ knew what Sasuke’s big brother had done. It hurts. Of course it does. She’s been dreaming of having Sasuke’s babies for years and more recently of him having her babies, weird as that was to think. But Sasuke… She wants him more than she wants his babies, and she wants him happy.

Whatever Sasuke finds on her face must be discouraging, because he averts his eyes and does this horrible shrinking-in-on-himself motion that she _never ever_ wants to see- to have him feel like he needs to do that again.

“If sitting with me through my heats is too much, the doctor said I could borrow clothes that smell like you instead.” He says quietly.

She doesn’t know how to respond. Can’t find the words. And then he hunches _more_ into himself.

“Never mind. Forget I asked. I’ll ask Naru-”

“Yes!”

Sasuke blinks at her in confusion.

“Yes, I’ll sit with you through your heats. I just- Sorry, I didn’t expect that. It won’t be a problem. Suppressants work really well for me. Just…are you sure you’re okay with it being me?”

He glowers at her a little, which feels… Well, surprisingly satisfying that he’s no longer cringing into himself. “Is this about Ino? Because I wouldn’t have asked if I _wasn’t_ fine with it being you. Your hair color is pretty, so don’t listen to her. Nobody cares about your forehead.”

Eyes widening in _very pleased_ surprise, she asks a question she hates herself a little for. “Is it true that you like long hair, Sasuke?”

Sasuke rolls his eyes. “Why in kami’s name would I care how long your hair is? Shouldn’t you just wear it how _you_ like it? I tried growing mine out once, but it just wasn’t me. It stuck up all weird and I hated it.”

She blinks, because _that is hilarious_ and something she doesn’t remember happening _at all_ , so it must’ve been before she fell in love with him.

“You can stop laughing at me now.” He says in a slightly sulky tone.

Sakura schools her expression, picturing a teeny tiny Sasuke with a massive case of bedhead hair. Keeping a straight face is becoming harder by the second. “Um. That’s very good advice. Thank you, Sasuke.”

“Hn.” He looks away, cheeks turning red, but he sounds pleased enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cont. from beginning notes:  
> Sakura, for instance, is someone who is unable to express as an omega _(for whatever reason)_. Whereas Sasuke is a case of someone whose mental health requires that he _not_ express as an alpha, and so, expresses as an omega instead. Though it’s likely more the result of too many omegas pressuring him that caused his expression _(self-defense)_ rather than any compatibility to Naruto. _(Can you imagine the hissy fit if anyone pointed this out, however?)_  
>  Naruto, on the other hand, is actually more a case of _‘not enough regular social interaction with expressed peers’_ than social imbalance pressure within the class. Betas who don’t have regular interactions with expressed peers are far more likely to express. It’s simply assumed that as one of the youngest in his peer group he logically should not have expressed and there’s a legit investigation of the adults around him when he does express, that turned up nothing and left people with the conclusion that it was the social group imbalance within the class that prompted it. And yes, Naruto’s rut _did_ trigger Shikamaru’s expression as an _omega_ , because they are quite compatible. It’s possible that without that he’d have developed as an alpha in response to Temari being an omega. _(Proximity is a much longer trigger time than with a rut as a trigger.)_ With Kakashi, I’m just gonna say he was naturally inclined to being an omega but in other circumstance he could conceivably been forced to express as an alpha. That and the story just wouldn’t have worked with him as an alpha, so I have no regrets. He would not have expressed without a serious trigger, however, which Itachi’s Tsukuyomi was.  
> Does this mean everyone expresses at the gender they would prefer? No. Does it mean that everyone who expresses wants to or that everyone who wants to expresses? Again, no. There are multiple factors at work here and it doesn’t always end up in sunshine and thornless roses.
> 
> Sasuke gets cranky heats. He’s a crabby little omega. But has yet to experience this.
> 
> The difference between suppressants and birth control in this AU is:  
> Suppressants prevent heats and ruts but don’t prevent pregnancy, just lower it about 60%. Which is ideal for ninjas, because heats and ruts are a much worse danger on a mission than possible pregnancy. _(The village lends support to omegas who end up pregnant with ‘mission babies’, regardless of cause. This is particularly true if the omega in question is single.)_  
>  Birth control generally lowers conception about 85-98%, depending on the type and individual, but does not interfere with heats or ruts. The extra hormones from heats and ruts can mess with birth control somewhat, so generally booster doses/shots are given for them or they are spent alone to avoid accidents. Civilians find this ideal, because unwanted mouths to feed at the wrong time can make a huge difference in their living conditions, but they feel that messing with the cycle of heats and ruts is just unnatural and wrong unless necessary. Many ninjas dislike birth control options, as chakra usage in combination with birth control can sometimes have long term negative effects on their reproductive systems. This is rare to actually happen, but of course the tales pass forever in gossip rounds, which overtly reinforces the ninja community’s distaste for them.  
> For those who want nothing to do with heats, ruts, or possibly conception but still want a sex life there are combined suppressants+birth control prescriptions. Generally these are used by ninja who have no reason or urge to reproduce despite their secondary gender, but occasionally civilians who travel a lot may choose this option.  
> Conception outside of heats and ruts is very possible, if not quite as likely. Non-sexual heats and ruts are as common as sexual ones, but they’re all miserable one way or the other. For a given value of being either constantly in need of satiation or constantly in need of comfort of some sort.
> 
> I have no idea where I'm taking this.  
> This is probably the last fic in this series.


	2. Expectations Gone Awry and Other Bits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heats, snakes, and misguided expectations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter fought me like hell, particularly the last scene, so apologies if it reads strange in places.

Sasuke has cranky heats, as it turns out. All he wants to do is curl up and bury his face in Sakura’s soft stomach. Miserably. And suffer in peace and quiet. Despite the cool snap of autumn in the air, his body is prickling with the pore-oozing heat of summer and he can _smell_ himself. A raw almost salty scent he can’t quite place and is forever after going to associate with heats. The smell makes his stomach churn when he gets too big a whiff of it. He’s already showered _twice_ today to get it off.

“Would you like me to get you snacks or rub your back or-”

He sighs. “Sakura. You’re smart. Can’t you just get a book and read to yourself?”

“Oh. If that’s what you want, Sasuke?”

“It is.” He grumps and buries his face against her stomach again.

“Um. You’ll have to let me up to get some books, Sasuke.”

Sasuke hisses in annoyance, but lets go and curls up in a sulky ball of misery while she hunts for reading material. Somehow he’s not surprised when she comes back with tea and snacks as well as a large stack of books and scrolls. He allows her to situate herself again before huffing and curling around her again in his former position, so he can smell her calming scent instead of his own aggravating one.

It’s not like he’s gonna touch the tea and snacks unless she forces him to.

 _Ugh. Heats are wretched._

~

_Sasuke Uchiha has expressed as an omega… …a documented allergy to all heat suppressants…has apparently secured himself a female alpha of a similar age to see him through heats…documented distaste for the notion of procreating…recommend using mention of his alpha, by name of Sakura Haruno, as a point of leverage to convince…_

Orochimaru tosses the report aside with a hiss of irritation. “Useless. He’s utterly useless to me! I will not have such an inconvenient body.”

“Then the sharingan…?”

He scoffs. “More trouble than it’s worth in this case. No wonder Itachi left him behind. Sasuke would have been of more use to me as a beta. _‘Allergic to suppressants.’_ Useless.”

Kabuto blinks a few times, then nods. “Then shall I discontinue surveillance of Sasuke?”

“No. Shift most of your focus to the other things we have discussed, but keep an eye on his medical status. As long as he doesn’t have _other_ debilitating health issues, perhaps there are other uses for an Uchiha omega.”

“Ah.” Kabuto adjusts his glasses. “Yes, of course. Luring him here under false pretenses and impregnating-”

“Hardly. That smacks of devouring one’s young, wouldn’t you say? No. Besides, he already has an alpha to whom he is amenable, and Konoha is not _quite_ so foolish that they would allow the bloodline to die out. Regardless of Sasuke’s preferences.”

“Understood. Then I-”

~

It’s like getting a boot full-force to the face.

 _(Not that he’s ever experienced a boot to the face.)_ He hadn’t thought the lazy, white-haired man could actually fail them. How would he explain failing the _last Uchiha_ and all around top student, after all? And Sakura might have been taken off-guard, but she’s right there behind him, as the best kunoichi of the year. No one would want her to fail, not even this obnoxious shinobi. This conclusion is only reinforced when he gave them a second chance with only the most minimal urging.

Honestly, if Aimi had been _anyone_ else, not just another ex-fangirl who _still_ has the gall to be nasty to Sakura all the time, he might have fed her just to shut her up. Quite frankly, he’s okay with just him and Sakura passing and leaving out this _loser_. The girl is insufferably vain for someone so mediocre, both in looks and the ninja arts. And that’s _his alpha_ she’s being vicious to-

Then Kakashi reappears and informs them brutally of the ways they’ve failed and _why exactly_ they are _all_ being sent back to the Academy. And Sakura’s crying and Aimi looks about two seconds from pissing herself and Sasuke hasn’t felt this weak and useless since _that man_ killed their parents in front of him and taunted him with his ineffectiveness and lack of power before using Tsukuyomi on him.

 _Fuck_.

He has no one to blame but himself. Sakura’s a rule-follower and Aimi…well, she’s never wanted to play on teams unless _she_ was in charge and taking all the credit. She’s _too stupid_ to be trusted to see through tests like these. Unfortunately, Sasuke has to face the fact that he let his own hubris blind him to the obvious.

No matter how good Sasuke is, their very _temporary_ sensei hadn’t been so much as inconvenienced by the efforts of all three of them. Kakashi sensei probably could have gone all day just reading his book and dodging easily even if they _had_ worked together _(which they hadn’t)_ , if he hadn’t been taking the time to deliberately teach them their inadequacies.

Sasuke is flat out furious that the man _dared_ rub his face in the fact that all his effort over the past few years had resulted in so little progress. He’s _more_ furious that none of his teachers in Academy have bothered to teach them enough skills to be actually _useful_ in a fight. Hitting a target is far easier than hitting another person, who can _dodge_. The only skill that had come _close_ was the fireball that his father had finally managed to teach him at age six, half a lifetime ago. It’s like they _wanted_ the students to fail. But he’s _most_ furious with himself. For not pushing himself further. For not being better. For not realizing that the answer was as simple as _teamwork_. He hadn’t even worked with _Sakura_ , so it’s not like he can claim personality clash as the source of failure.

Of the three of them, only Sakura, who would never break rules without someone there telling her to do so, who had suggested _any_ sort of teamwork. And even then, only the _‘I like you, so let’s work together’_ sort. Kakashi sensei had made it very clear how little value that sort had in comparison to true teamwork.

It’s not like Sasuke hasn’t heard about teamwork; he’d just assumed it was all propaganda by the teachers to encourage the losers. He hadn’t realized that it is actually a _requirement_ to be _any_ sort of ninja.

And that’s… That’s baffling. His father had always urged him to be the best. His brother always praised for his skill, so far above that of his peers. No one in his clan had ever mentioned _teamwork_. It was always an unspoken assumption that teams were just for spreading the boring work around, not for accomplishing something _useful_.

The _worst_ thing, though, is that sharp glance Kakashi sensei had thrown him at the end and the words that followed.

“You say you want to _‘kill a certain man’_ , but that man understands teamwork _far better_ than you do. How do you expect to face him alone?”

 _That_ is the metaphorical boot to the face.

Somehow he’d never considered that his brother would ever be anything but _alone_ after slaughtering their clan like a child pulling wings off a butterfly. Sasuke is _determined_ to get good enough to avenge his clan; he’s certain he can do _that_ much. But what if Itachi _doesn’t_ face him alone? It goes against all he believes of his brother, but Itachi is no longer the brother he knew back then. Even he knows that madmen don’t play fair.

No, Kakashi sensei is _right_. He _needs_ a team. Even if he doesn’t want to endanger anyone by letting them close enough to have to face Itachi, he’ll need a team to guard his back against others while he fights. And that truth _burns_.

They _do_ all deserve to be sent back to the Academy and he _hates_ that. Hates knowing he has been a fool. It’s not a mistake he’ll make _again_. Even if it means working with idiots and vicious losers.

~

Somehow, Sasuke expects that his best friend will make fun of him or just quit talking to him after he has failed to become a genin when Naruto has _passed_. He _may_ avoid Naruto for a few days after that. But soon he is caught up in reading through his clan library in search of scrolls with beginner’s jutsus in them. It’s probably a given that Konoha will give him another chance at genin and nothing Kakashi sensei said contradicted that. Unfortunately, he probably won’t be lucky enough to have Sakura placed on his team next time. Speaking of which…she’s probably feeling terrible about the whole failure thing herself.

After thinking that, it only takes a couple hours for him to feel guilty enough to trek over to her house and invite her to research and learn with him. Some might say he’s sharing clan secrets, but…Sakura is _his_ alpha. And she deserves better than to fail a second time just because the Academy doesn’t teach any truly useful jutsus.

It takes him just over a week to realize that similar grades aside, Sakura is at least half again smarter than he is. This realization only requires reading over her shoulder twice. The first time to see she’s reading a jutsu theory scroll about A ranked jutsus; the second to register that she’s reading a medical scroll with terminology complex enough that his eyes start crossing by the end of the third sentence and he only understands three-fifths of the words that he _did_ read. At that point he just cautions Sakura to not try using anything over D rank without adult supervision and tells her she can read whatever she wants. Which gets an eardrum-piercing squeal of delight, that he winces at, and an impulsive hug that is more bony angles than a girl her age should probably have, which makes him inform her that she needs to eat properly instead of sticking to trying to be ‘thin’ for him. This results in him finding out that Sakura prefers to eat like an obligate carnivore, only picking despondently at the salads she includes for ‘nutrition’ and leaving the tomatoes entirely, which Sasuke happily adds to his own meals, even if he privately considers her a bit of a heathen for not liking _tomatoes_ , or at least not all of them. Sakura has informed him that she likes the bigger ones fine, just not cherry tomatoes cuz she thinks they’re weirdly sweet.

All this makes him lose track of the passage of time and other things, even when the new school year starts up and he has to take ‘remedial’ classes part-time. So it’s a few months later when he forgets to avoid Naruto and bumps into him literally.

“Oof!” Naruto blinks at him in puzzlement, then lights up as he realizes who it is. It’s honest joy, not the smug satisfaction Sasuke has been fearing all this time. “Teme! I’ve been meaning to stop by! Sorry about that. It’s just been really busy, y’know? But I brought you back some tomato seeds from our last mission. You like growing them, right?”

Sasuke blinks at him and decides not to ask how he knows that. “Yes.”

“Cool! Anyways, funny story about that. There were these bandits who tried to rob our client. Of course we stopped them, but one of them was crying about his garden and who was going to water it, so we let him show us back to their camp and they had these tomato plants taller than sensei! And the tomatoes were bigger than both my hands put together, which was awesome, believe it! They tasted really good, too! So I thought of you, but sensei wouldn’t let me bring the plants back and the tomatoes woulda spoiled by the time we got back, so I brought you seeds!” Naruto beams at him. “That’s okay, right? You don’t need the tomato part to grow them? Shikamaru said that you just need the seeds to make plants, but he doesn’t grow stuff himself and I don’t grow tomatoes myself so I wasn’t sure, y’know?”

“Just the seeds.” Sasuke agrees, a bit overwhelmed by the rush of words. “Dobe. Thanks.”

Naruto’s grin brightens further, then he turns his head as someone calls his name. “I gotta go, but I’ll stop by your house tonight or tomorrow night. Okay, teme?”

“Hn.”

Unsurprisingly, Naruto dashes off instantly without a backwards glance, but Sasuke doesn’t mind. He does rather wonder what happened to the monster sized tomato plants, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll probably write on a few other things before writing the next chapter to this. I do have potential scenes made note of, however. If there's something past this point chronologically that you think _needs_ to be in this fic, feel free to let me know.


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